Cynthia Girard at Miller/Geisler - New York

In her first New York exhibition, titled "Le pavilion du Quebec," Canadian artist Cynthia Girard presented nine large-scale, acrylic-on-canvas paintings that make reference to her native province. In these works, Pop-inspired, flatly painted objects on saturated, solid-color grounds are often interrupted by small, naturalistically rendered elements; the result is an engaging contrast of painting styles.

Our Holy Canadian Martyrs (2002), 88 by 96 inches and a predominantly garish red-fuchsia, confronts the viewer aggressively. In eight oval shapes, scattered in a haphazard grid, the mid-17th-century war between France and the Canadian Iroquois is loosely narrated. The Indians brought the fur trade to a standstill by attacking anyone leaving Montreal, massacring many Christian missionaries in the process and eventually regaining control over the entire St. Lawrence region. Painted in an appealingly awkward, cartoonish style, a humorous and unconventional battle between the Iroquois and French colonists unfolds: for example, in one elliptical vignette, a loin-clothed warrior in feathered headgear appears to be forcing a confused-looking missionary to drop to the ground and perform push-ups.

More metaphorical in its approach, The Night of the Long Knives (2000) is a rendering of a steak knife stabbed into the canvas; "blood" runs from the wound centered on a ground of flesh-colored splotches. According to the artist's accompanying text, the painting's impetus is Canada's 1982 revision of its constitution. An agreement regarding the content of the document was arrived at without Quebec's consent; the majority of Quebecers felt that English-speaking Canada had "stabbed them in the back" by failing to address their status as a distinct society.

One of the simpler, more charming paintings, titled Quebec's Birds, presents woodpeckers, blue jays and swallows, all native to the province, perched atop a tree with reddish brown arterylike branches on a vibrant blue background. A flagpole to the left flies a miniature Quebec flag. Although the political commentary present in many of the paintings indeed makes a point, the straightforward concept and skillful paint handling of the bird painting gave it the strongest presence in the gallery.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Brant Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group